


Story Time

by Bella_Monoxide



Series: The Little Things... in the Apocalypse [1]
Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff, Judith is two years old, M/M, Prison setting, They never left
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-18
Updated: 2015-03-18
Packaged: 2018-03-18 09:54:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3565337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bella_Monoxide/pseuds/Bella_Monoxide
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rick discovers that Daryl has developed a little problem and wants to help him, but does not know how to...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Story Time

**Author's Note:**

> Betaed by pharmtechgirl71, to whom I am very grateful for helping me out!

After a hard day's work in the garden, Rick made his way back into the prison to shower and change. He met Beth in the common area, holding a bouncing Judith. "Woah,” he said, "Judy sure seems excited. What happened?"

Beth went on to tell him about the day's haul. Glenn, Maggie and others had been on a successful run, and had found lots of kids stuff as well. Amongst it were a few new children’s books, and Judith could not wait to be read to.

While Beth explained all this to Rick, barely able to hold on to Judith, Daryl walked in, back from his latest hunt. As soon as Judith saw him, she called out for him to cuddle her up in his arms, which he obliged to immediately, as grimy as he was.

He never cared about that when it came to her. Even though he would never admit it, everybody saw through his "no big deal" act. He loved her just as much as Rick did.

Judith squealed, "Dare, story!" several times, which prompted Rick and Beth to explain why she was so excited, and understanding soon dawned on Daryl's face.

Judith loved for Daryl to read her bedtime story to her, but lately Rick had noticed a strange reluctance in the hunter to do so. After dinner that day, Rick decided to talk to Daryl about it.  
It was Daryl's turn for midnight watch and Rick joined him to chat for a while.

"Daryl,” Rick said after some talk about runs and other necessities, "are you feeling like you watch Judy too much? I don't want to take advantage of you, you know." He looked at the hunter wearily.

Daryl seemed reluctant to answer, and the silence between them was drawn out, he forced himself to say something. "Not at all, you know I love that Lil' Asskicker..."

"...Yeah, like she is your own, I know", Rick interjected instantly. Daryl looked taken aback, but before he could say anything, Rick ploughed on "But why did you cringe when she asked you to read to her then?"

Somehow, Daryl's answer seemed off to Rick as he told him that he loved reading to Judith and would do so next evening when he wasn't on watch. But Rick let it slide for the moment, knowing full and well that Daryl would just balk at being interrogated any further.

Knowing his luck, he would only succeed in Daryl calling him 'Sheriff' again, and for some reason unbeknownst to himself, Rick hated that. It was strange, he thought, that even though Daryl had settled in somewhat and felt more at home within their group, he still wasn't exactly what you would have called a people person before the apocalypse.

Next evening Daryl, true to his word, went to Judith's room to read her a new story from one of the books the group had gotten the other day. Judith seemed to be very excited as she sat in Daryl's lap, Rick thought, as he peaked around the corner at them, watching her pulling at Daryl's chin scruff playfully.

But as soon as Rick concentrated on Daryl, he had to make a conscious effort to hold back on the laughter that began to bubble up in his gut. Daryl held the open book as far away as his, admittedly long, arms would possibly go – but he still squinted at the pages, barely able to read the words, it appeared.

Rick turned around and, unnoticed by Daryl and Judith, made his way back to the group members that had assembled in their common area. He sat down on one of the sofas they had managed to set up over time, deep in thought.

After a while, Rick made up his mind to go and check the book from which Daryl had read to Judith when he had a minute during the next day.

* * *

After breakfast, that opportunity arrived and Rick looked up the story – and, just as he had suspected, Daryl's story varied quite a bit from the printed version. Rick chuckled to himself, but got serious again soon enough, realizing just how awful the situation must be for Daryl – their trusted hunter, providing for their whole group, never failing.

Being, what was the word, Rick thought to himself – farsighted? Him? "Oh man", was all Rick managed to come up with, as the full weight of Daryl's situation sank in.

Rick's desire to help Daryl prompted him to seek out Hershel. He thought that talking to the vet might provide him with a solution. Besides, Hershel was one that could keep a secret, as Rick was sure that Daryl would not appreciate it if the whole group would know about his trouble.

But when he and the older man sat down outside in the prison yard, both with mugs full of some herbal tea, the only brew they were able to get these days, Glenn happened to walk by on his way to the watch tower. He must have heard Rick saying something about Daryl in combination with trouble to Hershel, because he instantly detoured and asked what the hell was up.

Naturally, when it came to their most treasured hunter, he was concerned and not easily hushed up, as Rick tried to tell him it was nothing to be concerned about. In the end, he and Hershel told Glenn about Daryl's apparent problem as well.

"Oh dear", Glenn said. "Out of all people it is Daryl who needs reading glasses? If it weren't so sad, it would be hilarious!"

Rick and Hershel looked at each other in wonder. After a minute of stunned silence between them, it was Hershel who said "Well, the solution is easy, after all – on your next run, try to hit one of those pharmacies that have those cheap reading glasses and bring a few back. I am sure that Daryl is not the only one who could use some, do you?" to which Glenn and Rick agreed, with Glenn promising to keep it in mind.

* * *

A week later, another run was planned and carried out, with Glenn among the people who went to scavenge a town a little further away.

They already had stripped all the nearby places and now had to be even more careful about planning runs, in order to not waste the little gas they could come by these days. Rick worried about this a lot; being the reluctant leader of their group, he was glad that the weight on his shoulders was lightened by other members.

If it were not for Hershel, whose farming and medical skills helped immensely to keep the group fed and healthy, or Beth, who had chosen caretaking of Judith as her duty, Rick would not know what to do. Not to mention, Daryl's quiet support, no matter what, he always had Rick's back.

When the group was not back by nightfall, Rick began to worry, even though it was clear from the start that they might not make it back until the next day. If it was dangerous to travel anywhere by day, it was even more so during the night, so they always planned on seeking shelter somewhere and make it back to the prison in the morning.

But even that knowledge did not help Rick to worry any less. Too much could go wrong on a run, as he knew all too well by now.

As Rick sat outside in the fading light of the day, Daryl joined him.

“You know worrying about them not being back yet is only gonna put more grey hair on that pretty head a yours”, Daryl told Rick in an attempt to lighten up his mood. As soon as the words left his mouth though, he stopped right in the middle of sitting down in a chair next to Rick.

He quickly looked at him out of the corner of his eye to make sure his slipup went unnoticed, if only he was lucky. And, let's face it, Daryl thought bitterly, when had a Dixon ever been lucky?

But it appeared that this one time he had gotten away, as Rick was so deep in thought he had hardly noticed what Daryl had said. He just smiled up at the hunter weakly to show him his appreciation.  
“Hey”, Rick told Daryl by way of greeting, and got a “Hey”, spoken in that gruff, yet soft voice, right back. Soft? Rick thought. Now where the heck had that come from just now? He shook his head absentmindedly and looked over at Daryl, who cast his eyes down before their stares could meet.

“I just hate it when you worry so much about our people,” he said to Rick.

“I appreciate your concern, Dare, but I can't seem to help it. I sometimes wish I could, though...” And he stared off into the distance.

They were silent for a long time, something they were really good at together, as they both had noticed. It was never uncomfortable between them, they just did not feel the need to fill the silence with talk.

Rick thought about how their relationship had changed over time. Slowly but surely, they had gotten more comfortable with each other, maybe, he thought to himself, it had to do with their mutual appreciation of each other's skills.

But Rick could not remember when he had started to call Daryl by that particular nickname. Well, I could just ask him, he thought. “Dare?”

“Yeah?” came the gruff reply right back.

“When did I start calling you that instead of 'Daryl'? Do you remember?”

Daryl looked at him then, pondering. After a short while, he began to smile and said “I'm not sure, but it might have been Lil' Asskicker who started it, don't you think?” and he chuckled.

Rick chimed right in and said “Yeah, right! I think that was it!”

“Man, what a miracle that is, having a small kid like her here, in this world as it is now”, Daryl mused. Rick looked at him, slightly wondering. Daryl Dixon, talking about miracles? Well, Rick thought, maybe it is just a sign of how much Daryl had changed since their first squirrel throwing, accusations flying encounter at the rock quarry.

“I feel like our first camp happened decades ago, instead of just a few years,” he told Daryl, who nodded his agreement.

After yet another bout of silence, Daryl suggested going inside and to bed, as the next day would start early again. They made their way over to the main entrance and went to their respective cells, bidding each other good night.

After Rick went to bed, he felt strangely alone, but quickly wrote it off to the absence of Judith, who spent the night in Beth's room. Carl had gotten his own room just a couple weeks ago, and it still felt weird from time to time.

A few cells further down the line, Daryl was having a hard time going to sleep. For some reason, Rick's worried face popped into his head repeatedly and Daryl just wished he could make all of his worries disappear. With a thought of how one of those magic wands from Judy's stories would be mighty handy sometimes, he finally fell asleep.

* * *

Breakfast next day was business as usual, as far as food went – but Rick looked at Daryl several times while eating his stale oatmeal, thinking the man looked off somehow. But he could not put his finger on what it was exactly.

At some point, though, Daryl seemed to be annoyed by Rick's stares and barked at him “What?!” Rick was taken aback. Daryl looked at him apologetically afterwards, telling him “Sorry” nearly inaudibly. Taking that as a good sign, Rick asked him what was wrong, did Daryl sleep alright? But the hunter just shook his head, mumbling under his breath.

“Sorry, didn't catch that”, Rick said, before he could think.

Daryl blushed slightly and mumbled again, a little louder this time, “...dreamed about unicorns, 's all”, and looked away, embarrassed. Rick tried real hard to not burst out laughing, but it was rather hard.

Luckily for him, the group came back in from the hunt at that moment, all safe and sound it seemed, and a wave of relief rolled through the assembled breakfast crowd.

Later on that day, Rick had a visitor when he worked away in his garden. Glenn dropped by to chat, and he told him that they did indeed get lucky, finding a place that had a nearly full rack of reading glasses which he had brought back in a separate bag.

Glenn wanted Daryl to be able to take his pick, and the hunter would have to try different ones since they were rather short on optometrists in the apocalypse. This was the point within their conversation when it hit Rick like a ton of bricks.

The trowel fell from his grasp and his jaw dropped in horror. Glenn, confused as to what could possibly have brought that on, looked at Rick questioningly. “Oh no,” Rick muttered weakly, after a few moments had gone by with him only staring at Glenn.

“What's wrong Rick?” Glenn asked, concerned. “I thought this was a good thing?”

Rick shook his head to try and clear it before he spoke. “I just realised that we need to figure out a way to tell Daryl about all this”, he announced weakly to a suddenly thunderstruck Glenn. “Uh-oh”, was the only retort he managed to come up with.

At that moment, Hershel hobbled into the garden, seeking them out. They explained the situation to him, and he looked troubled, thinking hard. After a while, his face lightened up into a full blown smile. Rick and Glenn looked at him, flabbergasted.

“Well,” Hershel said, “there is a perfect solution to this!” After this surprising announcement, the three men stood together for some time, putting their heads together in conspiracy. A while later, Rick smiled to himself, looking rather smug and thinking, that they might just have it all figured out.

* * *

And so it happened, that later on in the evening a smiling Judith tugged at Daryl's sleeve to get his attention. “Story Dare, story!” she said happily, tugging even harder, and Daryl followed her out of the common area.

On their way to her room, he picked her up and tickled her, which always made her laugh hard. He carried her inside, sat down on the lower bunk and told her to pick a book to read from. As she did so, he looked around himself, nervous, hoping nobody would come into Judith's room before he finished reading to her.

In the meantime, Judith had managed to take her pick and crawled into Daryl's lap, grabbing his arm and trying to get his attention. He looked down at her, managing to catch the book from her tiny grasp before it fell to the floor, when he noticed something else in his lap, besides Judith herself.

He looked down at the offending item, stunned. Judith picked up on his change in moods and looked at him questioningly. Snatching up a pair of reading glasses, Daryl asked “Where did you get these, Judy?”

Her little face lit up. “Use for story, Dare!” she told him happily and looking at her, being so agitated at presenting a solution to him, he could not resist her.

That little girl has me wrapped around her tiny finger alright, he thought to himself grumpily, as he tried on the glasses. Judith settled into his lap comfortably and waited for him to start reading as he opened the book. And boy, what a difference those glasses made!

Daryl was finally able to see the words clearly again, reading the story to Judith as he had when she was much younger – different voices for the characters and all. He ended up reading two stories to her, but shut the book halfway through the third one, and, cuddling Judith to himself, he stated “That's enough for tonight, we pick it up again tomorrow, a'ight?”

He went to Beth's room to hand Judith over to her, then proceeded to his own cell, his famous half-smile on his lips. Lying in bed later on he made up a little plan to confront the person who had set Judith up and he fell asleep to the image of a bearded face, blue eyes twinkling, pink lips turned up in a smile directed at him. 


End file.
